By admin A greedy mother of two who stole nearly $600,000 from taxpayers to buy designer bags and fund her “raging methamphetamine habit” has been sentenced to prison.
Tahra Wyntjes, 24, was sentenced to 28 months in Victoria County Court after pleading guilty to obtaining a financial advantage by fraud.
A Victorian mum defrauded taxpayers of a staggering $599,349 using an elaborate VAT scam between May 2021 and January 2022.
She submitted a series of false GST refunds to a bogus cleaning company, which she first registered in 2022 with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Wyntjes falsified 27 business declarations and attempted to steal a further $259,976 from the ATO between January and March 2022.
Investigators continued to contact the Gippsland mum asking for more information about her claims, but she “failed to provide any assistance”, the Herald Sun reported.
Instead, she told authorities that there was “nothing wrong with it” regarding her two sons and running a fake cleaning company, but that she would “pass the information as soon as possible.”
Investigators discovered the true extent of the mother-of-two’s ongoing spending after a thorough review of her bank accounts.
Tahra Wyntjes (pictured) was sentenced to 28 months in Victoria County Court after pleading guilty to obtaining a financial advantage by fraud
Wyntjes spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on Gucci and Louis Vuitton branded goods and on MenuLog, UberEats, Airbnb, flights and lodging.
She gave $139,154 to her partner, $18,054 to her mother-in-law and $48,500 to another man, and spent $244,831 on Apple products and $20,458 on Airbnbs.
On Wednesday, the court heard that Wyntjes used the stolen money to finance a “rampant methamphetamine addiction.”
Judge Richard Maidment said it was a crime born of “pure greed and opportunism”.
“You spent all the money on yourself and your own quiet expenses, not on anything related to cleaning equipment or cleaning services,” he said.
“Some of the remaining money was really wasted… you engaged in your own spending spree and gave the money to your partner… all that money seems to have disappeared one way or another…”
Wyntjes was sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison with a non-parole ban of two years and four months and ordered to repay the ATO.
The court ruled that her partner would “shoulder the burden” of her time behind bars.
A greedy mother-of-two (pictured) who stole more than $500,000 from Australian taxpayers to buy designer bags and fund her “raging methamphetamine addiction” has been jailed
Victoria’s acting deputy commissioner Jade Hawkins said the sentence served as a warning to those who tried to defraud the government.
“Our message remains clear. If you’re not running a business, you don’t need an ABN and you can’t claim a GST refund. It’s a scam,” Hawkins said.
“Not only did this individual make claims of fraudulent activity, but he also invented a fake company to claim a GST refund to which he was not entitled.”
The ATO has taken action against 57,000 alleged offenders, who have been assessed penalties and interest totaling more than $300 million since September 30.